


Different People

by LinaBenliven



Category: South Park
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Bisexual Kenny McCormick, Bisexual Kyle Broflovski, Developing Relationship, Kyle Broflovski & Stan Marsh Friendship, Love Confessions, M/M, Minor Craig Tucker/Tweek Tweak, Miscommunication, Oblivious, One Shot, Overthinking, Supportive Craig Tucker
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-12
Updated: 2020-04-12
Packaged: 2021-03-02 01:35:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,218
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23606908
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LinaBenliven/pseuds/LinaBenliven
Summary: Kyle Broflovski is in love.Well, at least he thinks that he's in love.Okay, so he's not sure what he's feeling but regardless of what it is, Stan Marsh is making him confront it.And well, Kyle is freaking out a little.
Relationships: Kyle Broflovski/Kenny McCormick
Comments: 5
Kudos: 81





	Different People

Kyle didn’t know how he hadn’t seen his crush on Kenny McCormick coming from a mile away. It wasn’t as if the feelings he was currently having were quiet and easy for him to hide. They were loud and crass, just like Kenny. They made themselves known even if Kyle didn’t want to hear about them.

It had crept up slowly on him over the years. It had started out as wanting to hang with Kenny more as they headed into fifth grade. Stan had started to go on more dates with Wendy, and Cartman was usually with Heidi which left Kyle and Kenny alone together. Not that they usually minded each other’s company; there was just only so much stuff they could do with just the two of them.

But it was during those few years while their friends dated that Kyle learnt so much about Kenny. Like how he liked his coffee milky to the point there might as well not be any coffee in the cup. Or how he struggled reading at times because he had never had books to read unless there were from school. Or the fact that Kenny wanted to have a job that he enjoyed and could help people in the process.

It had always been fun the nights that they had shared together, and while Kyle at the time had wished Stan could be there – looking back on it now; he was glad Wendy had called him away. He had forged this bond with Kenny and while he was definitely confused with how his emotions were at the minute; he wouldn’t change a thing.

He had a crush on Kenny McCormick and did not know what to do.

The simplest solution would be to ask Kenny out, but Kyle had tried that. Every time he tried to do so he just chickened out and changed the subject. He didn’t want to face that rejection from someone that he was fairly certain was not gay or even bisexual for that matter. He had no idea how Kenny would react to him even asking as well. He was scared of being rejected and he was scared of being mocked for his feelings.

He had confided in Stan about his dilemma and Stan had been about as useful as wet paper bag. He had told him to write Kenny a letter with all the reasons that he liked him which Kyle hadn’t seen the point in. He had already tried to do that, and it had ended up poorly. He had just ended up writing that he just liked Kenny for the simple fact that he was Kenny McCormick. There hadn’t seemed to be any more to it than just that. Something that when he had told Stan, the only advice he had gotten from him was to just tell Kenny that.

Which was how Kyle had ended up at the Tweek Bros Coffee Shop on Main Street waiting for Kenny to turn up.

Well, it was more accurate to say that Stan had forced him to the Coffee Shop, stolen Kyle’s phone and texted Kenny to get them to meet up. But who was keeping track really?

He felt idiotic waiting for a boy that he wasn’t sure would even turn up despite Stan’s assurance of the fact that Kenny had seemed excited at the idea. Sighing, Kyle rested his head on the table in front of him and took a moment to try and calm his erratic heartbeat.

“Broflovski, what’s wrong?” Kyle looks up at the call of his last name and straightens up when he sees Craig stood looking at him, with what seemed to be a hint of a concerned expression. It had always been hard to establish Craig’s true emotions from his expression and this was something that hadn’t changed as they had grown up. The only exception being that it was slightly easier to tell when he was around Tweak or when you knew what to pay attention to.

“Nothing’s wrong Craig.” Kyle reaches for his drink as he talks and frowns slightly when he notices it was empty. He didn’t particularly want to get up from the comfort of his booth to get another one, but he did need another coffee.

“Bullshit.” Craig says as he puts another drink down for Kyle before sitting opposite the red head. “I know that woe is me look on your face. Something’s wrong.” Kyle wraps both his hands around the drink Craig brought him and looks down into the liquid as he thinks of how to lie convincingly to him. Craig leans back as he waits for an answer, content to sip his own drink as he waited.

“You’re not going to leave until you get an answer, are you?”

“Nope.” Kyle suppresses a groan when he hears the slightly smug tone in the other boy’s voice and sipped his own drink. “Look, I know we’re not exactly the closest friends, but I don’t mind listening to your problem. Maybe you just need another perspective is all.”

The red head pauses hearing that and bites his lip in thought. Maybe he did just need another perspective on it. After all Craig had dated Tweak for several years now and had to have some advice on what he was feeling. Or at the very least have some ideas on how to confess his emotions or how a relationship could work between two vastly different people. Especially given the stark differences between himself and Tweak.

“How do you and Tweak make it work?” Kyle asks after a few minutes and hesitates when he hears Craig do a spit take. Okay, he probably hadn’t worded that in the best way. “You’re both two vastly different people, like how does it work?” He elaborates once Craig has mopped up the mess that he had made.

“Same as any other relationship? We listen to each other talk about our interests and communicate when there’s a problem. The fact we like different things has never really been an issue.” He watches Kyle stir his drink out of curiosity, wondering why the red head was asking him these questions but not caring enough as to ask Kyle just why he was asking.

“Okay… how did you know that you loved Tweak then?” Kyle takes a sip of his drink before looking up and meeting Craig’s eyes. “Like, how did you know that it was love and that it wasn’t just that you wanted to hang out with him?” He watches as Craig hums in thought at his question before the other boy shrugs and puts his empty coffee cup down.

“I didn’t know the difference. We were what ten when we first started dating? I knew jack shit about love back then. I hung out with Tweak because I thought he was sweet. I was twelve before I realised that I had serious feelings for him.” Craig watches Kyle as the other boy takes in this information and from the way Kyle slouches in his chair – his advice hadn’t been helpful. “Not the advice you were looking for?”

“Yeah… Why does it have to be so complicated?” The red head murmured with a loud sigh, only to blink when the other boy laughed.

“Because _you’re_ making it complicated.”

“I don’t follow.”

“You’re overthinking it. Can’t tell whether you love someone or merely like hanging out with them, why does it matter? Can’t it just be both? There doesn’t need to be a reason for everything.” Craig says it rather softly and looks over briefly at were Tweak was finishing off another customer’s drink at the counter. “As for your question about different people being in love – sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn’t. But you don’t know until you try. No one knows. Stop thinking with your brain and let your heart make a decision Kyle.” He adds as he stands up with a slight smile in Kyle’s direction. “That help?”

“Yeah actually… Thanks Craig.” Kyle said softly, leaning back in his seat as he thought about Craig’s words.

He had had a point, sitting around and debating it over and over in his head wasn’t going to do anything for him. It was just going to make him more frustrated because for as smart as Kyle was; he couldn’t predict how a relationship between himself and Kenny would turn out. To know that he would have to ask Kenny out and see what happened. It was scary delving into the unknown, but it was just something he was going to have to do. Besides even if it didn’t work, or Kenny wasn’t interested they could still be friends and hang out.

Craig had been right; Kyle had been making it complicated. Now that he had taken the time to ask for advice it was so much clearer and had made him feel more confident with his decision to ask Kenny.

“Kyle?” Kyle blinked having someone’s hand wave directly in his face and smiled when he looked up and saw Kenny looking at him concerned. “Man, you were spaced out.” He says with a grin before ruffling his hair and sitting opposite Kyle.

“God you’re a dork.” He said with a slight laugh as he fixed his hair a little.

“And yet you love to hang out with me. Does that make you a dork too?” Kenny says before taking Kyle’s drink to try it, immediately blanching at the taste of strong coffee.

“It makes me incredibly patient.” Kyle murmurs as he reaches back for his coffee and takes another sip, a small smile on his face. He had forgotten just how much hanging out with Kenny made him smile. He was just so dorky that Kyle couldn’t help it.

“So, why did you want to meet?”

“Oh… well, see I learned something today-“

“Kyle. I love you,” Kenny says it fairly quickly, both of his hands on Kyle’s cheeks in order to get him to stop talking. “but if I need to sit through one of your ‘today I learned’ speeches, I will leave.”

“Yeah, sorry. Just habit.” Kyle takes a moment to compose himself and looks back at Kenny, determined to get through what he had to say. “Kenny, I like you, a lot, and I want to date you, if that’s okay?” Kyle barely recognises his own voice as he talks. It’s timid and afraid and he’s not even sure that Kenny heard him. The blonde’s stunned look of disbelief lending some credence to that theory.

“Wait… What?”

“I get it if you don’t want to date, I just needed to get my feelings out there. We can go back to being friends if you would prefer?” Kyle says it quietly and tries not to let the disappointment sink into his voice. At least he had worked up the courage to ask him out, even if it hadn’t ended the way Kyle had hoped.

“No, no it’s not that.” Kenny sat up a little straighter as he talks and runs his fingers through his hair as he tries to process just what was happening in front of him. “Just to be clear – this is you asking me out now right?”

“Well, yeah if you want to date. Is there a problem with that?” Kyle asks, no longer understanding just what was happening.

“Well, I thought we were already dating, so kinda?” Kenny admits quietly and Kyle can’t help but just stare back at him. He wasn’t sure whether he was hearing that right or whether Kenny was just fucking with him.

“What?”

“Well, I mean it’s generally just us two hanging out, even when Stan is free. You’ve never stopped me from falling asleep on you or corrected me when I make comments about how I love you. I just assumed that we were both on the same page with it and that we would go public once you had found a way to tell Shelia.” The blonde explains with a slight smile on his face. The entire situation was laughable, and the way Kyle’s cheeks were flushed with embarrassment was sweet.

“You’ve got to be kidding me?” Kyle mutters as he buries his head in his hands, the embarrassment wanting to swallow him whole. “Well now I feel incredibly stupid. How long have you assumed?”

“About a year.”

“Fucking hell Kenny, you could have told me.” Kenny laughs at Kyle’s statement and grabs the red heads hand to give it a slight squeeze. He felt bad for laughing. While the situation was laughable, he could only imagine the courage that Kyle had to build up to even ask him out and here he was laughing.

“I’m sorry for not telling you. How can I make it up to you?”

“A kiss?” Kyle suggests rather cheekily and grins when Kenny makes a show of it. Rolling his eyes as he crosses over to the redhead and gently kisses him. He waits until Kyle pulls back to break their kiss and smiles at him.

“Happy?” Kenny asks as he sits down next to him, his hand finding Kyle's and lacing their fingers together.

“Definitely.” Kyle says before resting their heads together, making a mental note to thank Craig the next time he saw him.


End file.
